Rep. Pete Stauber questions closing of Federal Prison Camp in Duluth

Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber is challenging the federal government’s plan to idle the Federal Prison Camp in Duluth, a minimum-security facility that is among seven across the country slated to close due to aging infrastructure and staffing challenges.

Stauber, who represents northeastern Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District, on Wednesday called the move “quite misguided. The motives behind this decision do not appear to be reasonable or sound and I am disappointed by the way the announcement was rolled out.”

The Federal Bureau of Prisons said earlier this month the Duluth prison would be deactivated, which is just short of being permanently shuttered.

But the facility’s approximately 90 employees’ jobs are in flux, since only 15 are expected to be transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution in Sandstone, about 70 miles away from Duluth, according to a letter Stauber sent Tuesday to Colette Peters, director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Stauber was quoting job estimates from union officials, but a spokesperson for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) said Wednesday exact numbers are still being worked out. “The point is that there are few openings at Sandstone so it’s not likely that all employees will be able to be accommodated,” said AFGE Spokesperson Tim Kauffman.

The Duluth prison’s operations will cease in nine months. “To inform the employees they would be out of the job through an impersonal letter right before Christmas is far too insensitive,” Stauber wrote, noting he will work with the incoming Trump Administration to reverse the decision.

The 714 inmates now incarcerated at the Duluth facility will be transferred to other prisons. But Kelsey Emmer, a spokesperson for Stauber, said 159 prisoners were being transferred this week to facilities in Colorado and Kansas.

“We are concerned about this because removing the inmates from [Federal Prison Camp] Duluth will make it more difficult to reverse the decision to close the facility,” Emmer said.

The all-male Duluth prison camp, located on a former U.S. Air Force base, has “aging and dilapidated infrastructure,” including several condemned buildings contaminated with asbestos and lead paint, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

Stauber questions why federal prison officials did not alert him sooner regarding conditions at the prison camp, especially since the closure may have been in the works for two years.

“This decision to reorganize would necessitate negotiation with the union,” Stauber wrote, “and it is troubling to me that they were as blindsided by this decision as elected leaders representing the prisons.”

Emery Nelson, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, said the bureau does not comment on congressional correspondence with the media.

At the time of the announcement in early December, AFGE national President Everett Kelley said some 400 federal employees across the country would be affected. “The reality is that most Bureau of Prisons facilities are in isolated locations far from each other, so many if not most employees affected will face disruptive relocations to remain employed,” Kelley said in a news release.

The loss of skilled workers “will exacerbate the existing staffing crisis within the Bureau of Prisons, making our prisons less safe for staff, inmates, and the surrounding communities,” he said.

A human resources official with the Bureau of Prisons told the union that if efforts to transfer employees to other prisons are unsuccessful, employees will be laid off.

The Duluth prison has housed some well known inmates, including former auto mogul Denny Hecker, who was convicted in 2011 of bankruptcy fraud and defrauding auto lenders of more than $30 million. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, and ultimately served 7½ although not all his time was in Duluth.

In addition, former Minnesota Vikings tight end Stu Voigt served six months at the Duluth prison for bank fraud.